Optimism’s management has approved a proposal that ties the OP token more closely to Superchain’s financial performance, marking a notable shift in how one of Ethereum’s largest layer 2 ecosystems approaches token value and revenue use.
The proposal was adopted with 84.4% of votes in favor, according to Optimism’s onchain governance portal after several days of discussion among delegates and token holders.
The OP token remained marginally lower over the past 24 hours.
Under the plan, the Optimism Foundation will allocate 50% of net Superchain sequencer revenue to recurring OP token buybacks over a 12-month pilot period beginning in February. The remaining revenue will continue to support ecosystem financing, grants and operations.
The move represents Optimism’s first formal effort to connect OP token demand with network activity across the Superchain – a growing collection of OP Stack-based chains that includes OP Mainnet, Base, Unichain, World Chain, Soneium, Ink and others.
Since its launch, OP has primarily functioned as a governance token, giving holders influence over protocol upgrades and treasury spending. The newly approved buyback mechanism introduces another dynamic: as Superchain usage grows, so does the capital allocated to buy OP from the open market.
According to the Optimism Foundation, Superchain sequencers have generated around 5,900 ETH in revenue over the past year, a number that may increase as additional chains come online and transaction volume increases.
OP tokens acquired through the buyback program will be held in Optimism Collective’s treasury. The proposal does not mandate burning tokens or removing them from circulation, leaving future use — including potential stake mechanisms, incentives or burning — to subsequent government decisions.
This flexibility was a key point of discussion during the proposal’s review period, with some delegates arguing that it preserves freedom of choice, while others pushed for clearer long-term commitments.
“Approval of the management of the buyback proposal marks an exciting first step in expanding the role of the OP token. Optimism’s OP stack is becoming the settlement for the next generation of financial systems, and this program will help align the OP token’s value with the success of the Superchain ecosystem,” said Bobby Dresser, CEO of the Optimism Foundation..
Read more: Optimism community begins voting on OP token buyback
